Mourinho’s time at Manchester United in six peculiar quotes
“Yes, I think (we can). What gives me that belief? It gives me the belief that we are going to make much more points in the second part of the season than we did in the first part. I know we lost some other matches but we played away at Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City – probably the three best teams apart from Tottenham.” – Mourinho insists United can finish the season in the top four, despite a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool which left them in sixth place and 11 points off fourth-placed Chelsea on December 16, 2018. He was sacked that week.
“Let me send a message to my lovers and say that I played Champions League for 14 years and I qualified 14 times. And the two years where I didn’t play Champions League, I won the Europa League twice, so in 16 years, 14 times I qualify and twice I play Europa League and I won. Just a little curiosity for my lovers and the lovers of the stats.” – November 27, 2018, after qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages following Marouane Fellaini’s last-gasp winner at home to Young Boys.
“I know it’s a big gap but I also know, until the end of December, if I’m not wrong, we have eight Premier League matches to play, and eight Premier League matches, we are speaking about 24 points. Twenty four points for us to fight (for), 24 points for the other ones that are in the top four to fight (for) too, but I believe we are going to be there.” – Mourinho believed the Red Devils would be inside the Premier League’s top four by the end of 2018 on November 23, 2018.
“Do you know what was the result? Three-nil. Do you know what this means (holding up three fingers)? Three-nil but it also means three Premier Leagues and I won more alone than the other 19 managers together. Three for me and two for them. Respect, respect, respect,” – leaving the post-match media conference angry at a perceived lack of respect following the August 27, 2018, 3-0 Premier League loss to Tottenham at Old Trafford.
“You can be a rich club and buy all the best players in the world but you cannot buy class…because I am in the movie I could ask for some royalties,” – criticising neighbours Manchester City for their Amazon Prime documentary on August 18, 2018.
“One lie repeated 1,000 times is still a lie, but the perception of the people is that it’s true but it’s still a lie. So, when you repeat 1,000 times that my relationship with my players is not good, it’s a lie that repeated 1,000 times is still a lie,” – on August 9, 2018, after the summer transfer window closed without United adding the centre-back he craved.
